Archive for December 7, 2013

You’ve made it to the Procedural Fairness Blog, so we know you’re interested in this subject. As one year ends and another begins, many of us think about New Year’s resolutions that might lead to self-improvement in the coming year.

So we’ll wind up 2013 and start 2014 on the Procedural Fairness Blog with things judges might do to raise their game from a procedural-fairness perspective.

Step One is going to be easy: Watch a 90-minute online webinar with Minnesota trial judge Kevin Burke on Wednesday, December 11, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. Just click the link for registration information.

Kevin has made more presentations on procedural fairness to judges in the United States, Canada, and other countries than anyone else. And he helped to develop the skills of judges throughout the Minneapolis trial bench when he served multiple terms as the chief judge there. While chief judge, Kevin had social scientists on the court staff who studied the impact of procedural-fairness methods on those who came through the courts, including criminal defendants receiving probation orders and civil defendants receiving protection-from-abuse orders.

Kevin’s specific presentation on December 11 will focus on the handling of self-represented litigants, an increasing priority for all judges. Kevin will cover all the basics of procedural fairness; then he’ll apply these principles to the handling of the self-represented.

Kevin’s own docket these days is family-law cases—divorces, child custody, and protection-from-abuse cases—where dealing with the self-represented is a daily occurrence. Join him on December 11 for both an overview of procedural-fairness concepts and some helpful thoughts about effectively dealing with self-represented litigants.